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In Ireland, direct elections by universal suffrage are used for the President, the ceremonial head of state; for Dáil Éireann, the house of representatives of the Oireachtas or parliament; for the European Parliament; and for local government. All elections use proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV) in constituencies returning three or more members, except that the presidential election and by-elections use the single-winner analogue of STV, elsewhere called instant-runoff voting or the alternative vote. Members of Seanad Éireann, the second house of the Oireachtas, are partly nominated, partly indirectly elected, and partly elected by graduates of particular universities.
Coalition governments have been the norm since 1989. Fine Gael (or its predecessor Cumann na nGaedheal) or Fianna Fáil have led every government since independence in 1922. The current government is a coalition of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party. Traditionally, the Labour Party was the third party, although since 2016 it has been surpassed by Sinn Féin, and since 2020 by the Green Party. Smaller parties and independents exist in the Dáil and more so in local government.
Since 2023, electoral operations and oversight of electoral integrity have been carried out by an independent Electoral Commission.
Eligibility to vote
Entitlement to vote is based on citizenship. Residents of the state who are Irish citizens or British citizens may vote in elections to Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (parliament). Residents who are citizens of any EU state may vote in European Parliament elections, while any resident, regardless of citizenship, may vote in local elections.[1]
The right of Irish expatriates to vote is heavily restricted. Only members of the armed forces and diplomatic staff abroad may vote in Dáil elections, while only expatriates who are graduates of the National University of Ireland or Trinity College Dublin may vote in Seanad elections to the university constituencies.
Citizenship | Local elections | European elections | Dáil Elections | Presidential elections | Referendums |
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Other non-EU | ![]() |
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Early voting
Military personnel, whether serving at home or abroad, vote by postal ballot. These votes are delivered by a courier service, usually a commercial one, but a military courier is used for ballots cast by Irish troops in Lebanon and Syria.[4] Voters living on islands off the west coast in counties Galway, Mayo, and Donegal traditionally voted two or three days before polling day, but in 2014 the gap was narrowed, when they voted just one day beforehand.[5] Following an amendment to electoral law in 2022, early voting on the islands is allowed only in exceptional circumstances.[6]
General elections
Under the Constitution, the term of a Dáil is a maximum of seven years; statute law, currently the Electoral Act 1992, establishes a lower maximum of five years.[7] The Taoiseach may advise the president to dissolve at any time. If a Taoiseach has ceased to retain the support of the majority of the Dáil, the president may in their absolute discretion refuse to dissolve the Dáil. To date, no president has refused to dissolve the Dáil. Elections are by single transferable vote (STV), with each constituency returning between three and five deputies, each called a Teachta Dála or TD. Since 1981, constituencies have been redrawn by an independent Constituency Commission after each census, which was put on a statutory basis in 1997. From 2023, these functions have been carried out by the Electoral Commission
The erection and removal of campaign posters by candidates is governed by the Litter Pollution Act 1997 and the Electoral (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2009.[8] Posters may only be erected for a certain specified time period before an election. This time period is either (a) 30 days before the poll date or (b) from the date the polling day order for the election has been made, whichever provides the shorter period of time. Posters must be removed within 7 days of polling day.
Polling | Date of nominations |
Dáil | Government | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Day |
No. | Term[9] | Days | No.[a] | Head[b] | Party or parties | ||
14 Dec 1918 [c][d] |
Sat | 4 Dec | 1st | 21 January 1919 – 10 May 1921[e] | 841 | 1st DM/ 2nd DM[f] |
Cathal Brugha/ Éamon de Valera[f] |
Sinn Féin | |
24 May 1921 | Tue | 13 May[g] | 2nd | 16 August 1921 – 8 June 1922[h] | 394 | 3rd DM | Éamon de Valera | Sinn Féin | |
4th DM[i] | Arthur Griffith | Sinn Féin (Pro-Treaty) | |||||||
16 Jun 1922 [j] |
Fri | 6 Jun[k] | 3rd | 9 September 1922[l] – 9 August 1923 | 335 | 2nd PG/[m] 1st EC[n] |
W. T. Cosgrave[m] | Cumann na nGaedheal[o] | |
27 Aug 1923 | Mon | 18 Aug | 4th | 19 September 1923 – 23 May 1927 | 1343 | 2nd EC | |||
9 Jun 1927 | Thu | 1 June | 5th | 23 June 1927 – 25 August 1927 | 64 | 3rd EC | |||
15 Sep 1927 | Thu | 3 Sep | 6th | 11 October 1927 – 29 January 1932 | 1572 | 4th EC / 5th EC[p] | |||
16 Feb 1932 | Tue | 8 Feb | 7th | 9 March 1932 – 2 January 1933 | 300 | 6th EC | Éamon de Valera | Fianna Fáil | |
24 Jan 1933 | Tue | 8th | 11 January 1933 – 14 June 1937 | 1616 | 7th EC | ||||
1 Jul 1937 | Thu | 9th | 21 July 1937 – 27 May 1938 | 311 | 8th EC / 1st GI[q] | ||||
17 Jun 1938 | Fri | 7 June | 10th | 30 June 1938 – 26 June 1943[10][r] | 1823 | 2nd GI | |||
23 Jun 1943 | Wed | 9 June | 11th | 1 July 1943 – 7 June 1944[12] | 343 | 3rd GI | |||
30 May 1944 | Tue | 19 May | 12th | 9 June 1944 – 12 January 1948 | 1313 | 4th GI | |||
4 Feb 1948 | Wed | 13th | 18 February 1948 – 7 May 1951 | 1175 | 5th GI | John A. Costello | Fine Gael | ||
Labour | |||||||||
Clann na Poblachta | |||||||||
Clann na Talmhan | |||||||||
National Labour Party[s] | |||||||||
Independent | |||||||||
30 May 1951 | Wed | 17 May | 14th | 13 June 1951 – 24 April 1954 | 1047 | 6th GI | Éamon de Valera | Fianna Fáil | |
18 May 1954 | Tue | 4 May | 15th | 2 June 1954 – 12 February 1957 | 987 | 7th GI | John A. Costello | Fine Gael | |
Labour | |||||||||
Clann na Talmhan | |||||||||
5 Mar 1957 | Tue | 21 Feb | 16th | 20 March 1957 – 15 September 1961 | 1641 | 8th/ 9th GI[t] |
Éamon de Valera/ Seán Lemass[t] |
Fianna Fáil | |
4 Oct 1961 | Wed | 17th | 11 October 1961 – 18 March 1965 | 1255 | 10th GI | Seán Lemass | |||
7 Apr 1965 | Wed | 18th | 21 April 1965 – 22 May 1969 | 1493 | 11th/ 12th GI[u] |
Seán Lemass/ Jack Lynch[u] | |||
18 Jun 1969 | Wed | 19th | 2 July 1969 – 5 February 1973 | 1315 | 13th GI | Jack Lynch | |||
28 Feb 1973 | Wed | 20th | 14 March 1973 – 25 May 1977 | 1534 | 14th GI | Liam Cosgrave | Fine Gael | ||
Labour | |||||||||
16 Jun 1977 | Thu | 21st | 5 July 1977 – 21 May 1981 | 1417 | 15th/ 16th GI[v] |
Jack Lynch/ Charles Haughey[v] |
Fianna Fáil | ||
11 Jun 1981 | Thu | 22nd | 30 June 1981 – 27 January 1982 | 212 | 17th GI | Garret FitzGerald | Fine Gael | ||
Labour | |||||||||
18 Feb 1982 | Thu | 23rd | 9 March 1982 – 4 November 1982 | 241 | 18th GI | Charles Haughey | Fianna Fáil | ||
24 Nov 1982 | Wed | 24th | 14 December 1982 – 21 January 1987 | 1500 | 19th GI | Garret FitzGerald | Fine Gael | ||
Labour[w] | |||||||||
17 Feb 1987 | Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=Elections_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland